Somnambulist
by spacemonkey69
Summary: Twenty six minutes after midnight struck, she found her hand banging relentlessly on the door, tears streaming down her cheeks. Chapter One up, please read and review
1. Prologue

This totally sucks! I downloaded the new internet explorer, and it is still making me do all this in stupid html mode:(...in other news, I started this little story before I went away and thought that I would add to it before posting a chap, but I decided to just post it as a prologue...another story, I must be out of my freaking mind! Well, I already knew that! In other news once more, I have started the new chap of smoke and mirrors...it is going slowly, but its coming! I've been quite busy the last forever it seems, what with christmas shopping, holidays, catching up, sleeping, lazy time, and having a job interview this morning...oh and my bro allan is home from uni and just had his wisdom teeth out...having him around makes it quite hard to find some spare time to write, but I will prevail! Anyway, I've crapped on enough as per usual...please read and review! Oh and if anybody has any advice on to how to get this into normal mode (you know, the normal simple mode thing you usually get when editing, not the html...anybody know what I'm on about?) please help me! It's a pain in the ass!

I do not own friends/actors/characters, but I do own the 21 jump street season 1 dvd! SQUEE! Yeah, my friend and I exchanged presents early this year and I have been trying to get my hands on the dvd for EVER! But in Aus, we dont have them yet...thankyou EBAY! I love Johnny!

Twenty six minutes after midnight struck, she found her hand banging relentlessly on the door, tears streaming down her cheeks. A muffled sob escaped her lips as the door went unanswered, and she banged harder.

The door went unanswered still and she let out a terrified cry as the figure approached.

"_Please!" _she screamed, her fingernails raking at the hard wood now. "_Please!"_

The second hand ticked over and the door opened.

Joey blinked a few times, sleep still blurring his vision. It finally cleared and a gasp left his lips as he looked down the hallway.

"Oh my god," was all he could utter before the sight overwhelmed him. He turned away, paused only for a moment, then rushed to grab the phone.

The figure slunk down the stairs, his footsteps silent.


	2. Chapter 1

Wow...I kinda suck, huh? It's been forever since I started this story, I really suck. But oh well, 4 months on and I'm finally updating...yay me! punishes self severely Anyway, so here is chapter 1, finally, hope you enjoy! I'm not entirely sure where I'm taking this yet, so bare with me! Please read and review and I love you. Oh, and I know nothing about New York, so let's just assume that there is a huge flight of stairs in front of a police station there, hmmm? It was what I saw in my mind's eye!

I do not own friends/actors/characters, but I do own a sore throat after choking on a piece of meat before...yeah, that was kinda scary!

Chandler checked his watch, muttering to himself. 4:38 am. Not a good time to be awake, but the situation called for it.

A panicked call from Joey had startled both Chandler and Janice from their peaceful sleep, and Chandler had left his girlfriend's apartment as soon as he could. He didn't know the details, but hearing Joey's voice like that had been enough to convince him that he was needed.

Leaving Janice behind, Chandler made his way to the police station as quickly as possible, still wiping sleep out of his eyes. He couldn't remember the last time he had seen New York at that time, and it unnerved him slightly, leaving him thankful that he was in the safety of a cab. Because they were so safe, he thought sarcastically. He had heard stories about killer cab drives, but pushed them quickly out of his mind. Death in a cab was not something a New Yorker should think of, seeing it was usually that or the subway.

Chandler didn't even want to think of using the subway at that time in the morning.

Checking his watch once more, Chandler frowned. 4:41 am. Still not a good time.

He wished Joey had told him what was going on. The fact that he was heading to the police station scared him a lot more than it would have, if he was heading back home. Had Joey been arrested? Had something happened? Was one of the girls in trouble? Or hurt? Was Ross?

Joey had sounded unharmed, if slightly shook up, but that still didn't do much to calm Chandler.

Glancing out the window, he was surprised to find they were here and the driver was turned around, looking at him expectantly. How long had he been looking?

Chandler smiled sheepishly, and handed the driver a handful of bills, not bothering to check how much was there.

"Keep the change," he said absently as he opened the door. The driver muttered his thanks, and Chandler barely had time to close the door before the car took off. He shook his head and turned towards the station

It was a big building, brightly lit, with a large flight of stairs leading up to the doorway. Chandler blew a stream of air through his teeth, irritated, as he took in the stairs. It was too early to be doing any form of exercise. But Joey needed him.

Shaking his head once more, Chandler started up the stairs, pulling his jacket closer in the cool night air.

"Chandler!" He stopped mid step, nearly tripped and managed to look up. Rachel was bounding down the steps towards him, and Chandler felt a wave of relief wash over him. Rachel was okay. Great. Now he only had all the others to worry about. But still, it was a relief. He smiled wanly at her as she reached in, and took in her face. It was contorted into an expression that he knew too well, and he felt fear surge up once more. She was on the verge of tears. "Oh, thank god you're here!" She quickly enveloped him in a hug, and Chandler could feel her shaking. He gently pulled away, holding her at arms length, and scrutinised her, frowning. A moment later, he had his jacket wrapped around her, smiling lightly.

"Better?" he asked. She nodded.

"Now you'll get cold, though."

"Unlike you, I actually dressed for the cold, dreary coolness that is New York at night…in the middle of October," he said pointedly. She flushed, glancing down at her less than warm attire, underneath the oversized jacket.

"Yeah, well, I didn't really expect to be traipsing around in the middle of the night when I packed, did I?"

Chandler nodded, remembering that both Rachel and Monica had spent the night at Phoebe's, after deciding on an impromptu sleepover late yesterday afternoon.

"You could have borrowed one of Phoebe's jackets."

"It doesn't matter," Rachel said hastily, taking Chandler's arm. She started to pull him up the stairs, but stopped when Chandler gently removed her hand. He knew that at the speed they were going, one or both of them would have ended up flat on their faces. Plus, he wanted answers. Rachel gave him an exasperated look, but Chandler stood strong.

"What's going on, Rach?"

"Didn't Joey tell you?" she asked, taking his arm once more. Chandler allowed her to lead him this time, going at a much slower pace.

"All he said was that I had to come to this police station now, nothing else. I kinda figured it wasn't a joke because…well, Joey isn't _that_ good an actor to be honest." Rachel attempted a laugh at his comment, which came out more as a squeak. Chandler stopped her just before they hit the final flight of stairs. "Rach, what's going on?"

She bit her lip, glancing down at their feet before looking back up. "A girl was murdered in our hallway." Chandler's mouth fell open.

"Oh my god!"

"Yeah. Joey was woken up by someone banging on the door, but when he answered it, well…there she was, on the floor."

"Oh my god…is Joey okay?"

"He's…I don't know, I haven't seen him. Ross is the only one who talked to him," Rachel answered softly.

"Ross is here?"

"We're all here. You're the last one to arrive, Chandler."

Chandler felt a pang of guilt at that remark. He should have been here for Joey. Rachel noticed the look on his face, and rubbed his arm comfortingly.

"It's okay, Chandler. Janice's place is a lot further out then all our places. Of course you were the last one to arrive."

"I should have been in the apartment with Joey," Chandler muttered. Rachel sighed.

"Don't start kicking yourself about it, honey. Monica and I think the same thing. We should have been right across the hall, yadda, yadda. But we weren't. And that's that."

Chandler nodded, a shiver going through him. Rachel noticed and started to take the jacket off, but stopped when Chandler shook his head.

"Keep it. Let's just get inside."

"Okay." Rachel smiled softly, then wrapped her hand around Chandler's arm once more, them both taking comfort from the touch.

"Did we know this girl?" Chandler asked as they approached the door. Rachel hesitated.

"They…they haven't been able to identify her yet, so…I don't know. I hope not," she murmured, then let out a short, nervous laugh. Chandler frowned.

"They haven't been able to identify her?"

"Apparently not. I don't even want to think what that means."

"Yeah…" Chandler trailed off, glancing up at the double doors that stood now only feet away.

"I can't believe this happened…in our building for god sakes!" Rachel exclaimed suddenly, stopping, and Chandler wondered if she was stalling. "I mean, it could have been one of us!"

"But it wasn't." Chandler wrapped an arm around Rachel's small shoulders, pulling her close. Rachel leaned into the embrace for a moment, blinking back tears, then pulled away, shaking her head.

"What am I doing? You're freezing your butt off, let's get inside," she muttered. Chandler nodded, smiling down at her, then walked forward and opened the door.

"After you, miss," he said, gesturing widely. Rachel managed a smile and walked inside, Chandler following behind, instantly noting the warmth of the building.

"Chan! Oh, good, you found him," Ross exclaimed as they rounded a corner. Chandler smiled briefly at his friend, glancing behind him. The girls were nowhere to be seen. Ross noticed his look and nodded. "I sent them to get some coffee, Monica was getting…anxious, and Pheebs, uh, well she wasn't being all that useful in calming Mon down." Chandler had to grin at this, imagining Phoebe sitting there, goading Monica on. He shook his head, then watched as Ross pulled Rachel into his arms. "Are you okay, sweetie?"

"I'm fine, Ross." Rachel suddenly sounded irritated, and Chandler wondered how many times Ross had asked that in the short amount of time they had been there. Probably a lot, knowing Ross. "What's going on? Are they still talking to Joey?"

"Yeah, I haven't heard anything yet. It's extremely frustrating."

"Is Joe okay? You got to see him before, didn't you? Is he okay?" Chandler asked in rapid fire. Ross looked slightly taken back, but nodded.

"Yeah. I got to see him just before he was taken in to questioning…uh, he's okay. A bit shaken up, little freaked, but I think he'll be fine…Rach, what are you wearing?"

"Chandler was kind enough to offer me his jacket, unlike someone I know," Rachel said pointedly, before pushing past her boyfriend, muttering something about Monica.

Chandler looked at Ross, who ran a hand through his hair, laughing lightly.

"We, uh, we kinda had a fight last night, before she left to go to Phoebe's…the fight kinda continued when she got here, I guess."

"Oh, uh, okay then." Chandler knew he should have interjected a witty remark in, but truth be told, he was too tired and worried to bother. "It'll be fine, man."

"Oh, I know, it always is," Ross said confidently. Chandler gave him an odd look, but said nothing. "Come on, let's go sit and wait."

"Okay," Chandler said softly after a pause, following Ross reluctantly. Sit and wait.

Chandler hated to wait.


End file.
